By Abimbola Ogunnaike
Chief Registrar of the Kwara State High Court, Magistrate Ibironke Olawoyin, has disclosed that a fire incident that occurred at court complex on Tuesday, 13 February, 2024, destroyed over 200 case files and office equipment .
The Kwara State Fire Service has attributed the cause of the fire incident to power surge.
It was gathered that the litigation office at the high court and other office equipment were completely destroyed by the inferno.
It was also learnt that several files of concluded and ongoing cases including those since the inception of the court were burnt in the process.
Olawoyin, speaking on the incident, said the burnt section as the engine room of the high court.
“That section is the engine room of the high court. This is not about 100 or 200 cases. Our appeal cases, ongoing cases and processes that are being filed including some coming up this week. Not a single file was saved; everything was completely burnt.
“If not for the way the structure of the building was built and that most of the offices were departmentalised, it would have been more colossal,” she said, disclosing that about three weeks ago, she mandated a software expert to begin the process of digitising the court files
“I was supposed to receive the report from him and the cost before this incident. It’s unfortunate,” Olawoyin added.
Source: The Punch online
